Pushy, impatient mare at meal time

[Suzie94]

So my mare is getting increasingly bossy and pushy with me when I go to feed her.
She lives with one small pony and they have more than enough grazing but as soon as she sees me go over to the feed room she chases the other pony off and gets extremely impatient!
She waits right by the door and I try to push her back so I can safely give her her feed in a quiet space but she won’t let me! If she’s in the other paddock (away from the feed room) she paces up and down, paws the ground and has her ears back.. when I go to put it down she grabs at the food before I’ve even put it down and I just have to put it down where I am otherwise she’d just push me out the way!
I feed the other pony in her stable so she can eat in peace and not have my mare push her away from hers….
Any advice? Shall I send her away until I’m ready for her to approach the food or is that an old fashioned way to respond?
She’s a lovely horse in any other way, good stable and ground manners. I can touch and groom her once she’s eating. But all of those manners goes out the window when foods involved when she turns into a angry pushy mare until she’s got it!!

thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[ycbm]

she won’t let me!

She should not have the choice. Tie her up before you go near the feed shed.

 

[Suzie94]

She should not have the choice. Tie her up before you go near the feed shed.

Even then she paws the ground, pulls towards me and shoves her head into the feed before I’ve had chance to put it down.. I’d just like her to learn some manners and not think she’s my boss ?

 

[Auslander]

I've had a few who tried to behave like that when they arrived here! They don't do it any more, as they know full well that they get nothing if they don't behave.

First and foremost, this needs working in without food in equation - your horse needs to learn not to get into your space unless invited, and to step back if I front up to them. Sort that out without any food around, so your horse focuses on learning the rules, rather than obsessing about food. No treats, not even in your pocket.

Only when I know they know the score, do I address the feedtime issue head on. I wait them out. I don't care how long I have to stand there with the feedbucket behind my back- I look them straight in the eye, and I wait. Most horses figure out pretty quickly that they get nothing while they're being bargy and rude. I have buckets that the feed is made up, which get tipped into a tyre manger, and if any of this lot try and shove their nose in the bucket, the bucket goes back behind my back. Once the food is in the manger, it's theirs - but as long as it's in a bucket, it's mine.

 

[ycbm]

She's a Welsh D, and you must nip this behaviour in the bud before she hurts you.

Catch her. Tie her up. Stand by her with her food until she stops pawing, she will eventually.

When she's quiet, reward quiet with food, quickly, so she makes the association.

And repeat that until she has some respect for you, or you are in for a very hard time as the owner of an opinionated D.
.

 

[Suzie94]

Thank you both. I will work on both of these straight away.
I think she’s gotten worse since having her new field mate. I used to have her at a livery yard where she had individual turn out and she would pace when she saw me heading over with her feed but never seemed aggressive… just impatient. We now have our own land and she has a pony as a companion who she likes to boss around a bit. She also gets jealous if Im giving the pony fuss and attention and will try to push her away but I tell her no and send her off and she listens well to that. But when foods involved she definitely becomes more pushy and angry!! Im worried it will get out of hand and I’ll get hurt which is why I'm here looking for help to nip it in the bud ASAP.

 

[Skib]

First and foremost, this needs working in without food in equation - your horse needs to learn not to get into your space unless invited, and to step back if I front up to them. Sort that out without any food around, so your horse focuses on learning the rules, rather than obsessing about food. No treats, not even in your pocket.

Absolutely agree with this. When learning to ride as an adult I went to lots of demos and the trainers all start with leading and halting in walk. Then adding turns and backing up.
You can practise this in a safe place or in the school.

Once a horse complies with no food, you can judge the point at which it will be safe to come between the mare and her food. I shared a bad tempered old mare and was warned not to get between her and her food but I knew with animal instinct that unless I "owned" her space and her food, she would not respect and obey me. I lead my present share into her box BHS style passing her food and turning to face the door.

It is hard to explain, but this leading must be done with conviction. I can mimic trainers and even famous riders, something suggested by Perry Wood. Horses are so much bigger and stronger than any human that I suppose their brains dont recognise that I am an old lady and not a famous trainer. But they do respond to size. If you lift both your hands in the air. they think you are a giraffe or something bigger than they are. Ad I never give treats.

 

[Annagain]

Agree with Auslander but as an extra step, could you put her in the stable before you start rather than the companion and only put the feed in when she's moved away from the door?

 

[Cowpony]

There are some very good YouTube videos about dealing with pushy horses. Some of them are specifically about feed, and they make the point that if you throw the food down in an effort to get out of the horse's way you are encouraging the behaviour. They keep doing it because it gets them what they want. So as Auslander says, you need to change your behaviour in order to change the horse's.

 

[Suzie94]

There are some very good YouTube videos about dealing with pushy horses. Some of them are specifically about feed, and they make the point that if you throw the food down in an effort to get out of the horse's way you are encouraging the behaviour. They keep doing it because it gets them what they want. So as Auslander says, you need to change your behaviour in order to change the horse's.

thank you. I have looked at some and most say to act as the dominant horse would and send her away until she’s waiting nicely at a distance. But I wasn’t sure if this was a outdated method as I’ve read conflicting things about that kind of thing.

 

[stangs]

The idea of dominance is indeed growing outdated, at least in scientific circles. But in this case she does need to ‘respect’ your space. And you should also respect hers - aka give her the feed, and then leave her be. That’s how you’ll hopefully start reducing her feed anxiety.

 

[laura_nash]

The dominance idea is outdated, but the principle is still sound.

Both mine are food obsessed and pushy cobs. My old boy is also a terrible bully around food.

If I appear with food bowls they both step back with a distance between them and turn their heads away then wait till I put the bowls down in front of them and tell them they can eat. They do this because they've learnt it's the only way they will get fed, and they are VERY motivated to get fed. I feed them in the field, often in the dark and poor weather, and I'm not prepared to risk any nonsense so if they start I just leave. The new girl picked it up in about a week from watching my old one, it was slower with him as he didn't have someone to copy but it's a case of getting the timing right when they happen to step back or turn away.

 

[sunnyone]

When feeding my horses in the field I always have an empty bucket in the top of the stack. If a horse gets too close they cannot get a food reward, equally if you trip the contents of the real buckets don't go everywhere.